PREGAME COACH QUOTES: GAME 2

Here are some of the best comments from Doc Rivers and Mark Jackson’s pregame media conferences before Game 2 at Staples Center:

CLIPPERS HEAD COACH DOC RIVERS

On if he second guessed himself after Game 1:

“You really do, honestly. I’m not kidding around. You do all the time. You second guess yourself a lot when you, too. But when you lose, you really do, probably more so in the Playoffs. What you have to do is be very careful to not do too much. I’ve learned that if I’ve learned anything. You’ll make a change and you’ll get in the next game and realize, ‘Hell, they didn’t even make an adjustment.’ And you could have stayed the same. So, you have to be very careful with that.”

On whether or not the Clippers are in a must-win situation:

“I don’t shy away from that. I think that every night. I always laugh at the must-win. If you win, isn’t the next one a must-win and if you lose the next one is a must-win. It’s great to write about and all that stuff, but I think they’re all must-wins.”

On Chris Paul’s demeanor after Game 1:

“He was very hard himself as usual. He’s very focused. I don’t know Chris well, like that, yet. But I’m learning as the year goes on that when he has a game that he didn’t like he gets real hard on himself. I don’t know if I like that about him or not yet. That’s something I’ll have to find out. I don’t know yet with that. He studies the game as much as anyone I’ve ever been around. He’s probably gone over the film and watched everything he did or didn’t do, probably too much. But that’s also what makes him great.”

WARRIORS HEAD COACH MARK JACKSON

On guarding against letup as road team winning first game:

“I understand that mentality but that’s not our mentality. We respect our opponent. We respect their talent. But now the mission is we want to win four games and we want to play extremely hard and play well. That’s a tough task against this team. There’s no sign that we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish now. We didn’t come here to get home-court advantage. We came here to play two games and win two games.

On Jermaine O’Neal’s impact:

“He’s had an incredible career. We watched him last year and he hurt us in Phoenix. The question was how much did have left in his tank? He’s another guy that I’m not going to kill in practice. I’m going to give him days off. I’m going to listen to his body and what he’s telling me. And he’s a guy that I’m thrilled to death because if calls it quits after this run it will be on his terms because he’s proven he can still play the game of basketball at a high level.”

On Chris Paul:

“I got big-time respect for him. I was watching TV today and the question was whether or not he was a superstar and I couldn’t believe that was even a question. The guy is a big-time talent and he’s a superstar basketball player. When you look at the way he competes, when you look at the way he orchestrates his offense, when you look at the way he leads, there’s a concern. There a huge concern with us going up against the Clippers because of what he brings to the table.”